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Matteos Egazarian
Matteos Egazarian (born 1974) is a American politician, and the junior Senator of Rhode Island. A self-described Libertarian, Populist, and Conservative, Egazarian started his political career in the Rhode Island State Senate, before being elected Senator in a 2007 Special Election in a highly improbable victory. Egazarian would win re-election to a full term in 2012, despite the state's strongly liberal population. Egazarian would announce his intention to run for the Republican nomination for President in early 2016, running on a populist message primarily dedicated to building a wall on the southern border, and the imposition of heavy tariffs and protectionist policy. Other campaign stances would included "demolishing" abortion, the demand for "respect" for the AR-15, lowered taxes, and a controversial budget proposal roughly halving government spending. Following the withdrawal of Representative Hutchinson, the victor in Iowa, from the primaries after the revelation of a scandal involving collusion with Wal-Mart, Egazarian was considered a front-runner, winning the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, while fellow blue state Populist and rival Eric Gonzalez took Nevada. Egazarian focused his campaign's attacks on Gonzalez, including a controversial exchange of heated rhetoric involving disputes over the incitement of violence against the supporters of the other candidate. Egazarian also would drop a "bombshell" on the Gonzalez campaign, criticizing his flat-income tax plan. Egazarian would not attend the right-wing debate hosted before Super Tuesday. Egazarian concentrated effort in campaigning before Super Tuesday on combating Gonzalez in Texas, and held a lead in delegates after the primaries, though he would win less states than third-place candidate Calvin Reed, largely due to his concentrated campaigning, though Egazarian would receive large numbers of votes in states in which he did not campaign. Following Super Tuesday, Egazarian's position in the race was rocked by a poor week before the Super Tuesday II primaries. The presentation of the candidate's budget plan on TNS ran into controversy over possible math errors and seeming errors by Egazarian in understanding the budget process. Egazarian would war with fact-checkers over the week on several statements of his deemed false, including advertising attacks. Egazarian would comment that all not seeking a job for various reasons, including retirement, or being a stay-at-home parent, "should" be working, eliciting further controversy. Egazarian would propose offering amnesty to illegal immigrants in a Mississippi rally, drawing the ire of some conservatives. In the Super Tuesday II primaries, despite the difficulties of the previous week, Egazarian would win Ohio by a broad margin, and perform above polling estimates in North Carolina and Florida, completing a second-place finish. Egazarian would continue his campaign against calls to drop out as Calvin Reed appeared the likely nominee, declaring that "Reed must never become President", and seeking to prevent him from receiving the required majority of delegates, forcing a contested convention. Egazarian would generally be significantly less active on the campaign trail than Reed in the later weeks of the primary, falling into a more distant second. Egazarian would take place in the second Republican debate against Troy Wilson, with Reed and Gonzalez not attending. Egazarian erred in his statements on the content of the Sixth Amendment, repeating an incorrect statement after being corrected by the moderator, and was attacked with Wilson for such. Wilson, expected to lose the debate, was considered the winner by most reports. Egazarian would continue in his effort to deny Reed the Republican nomination until the conclusion of all primaries, including after Reed reached the 1,237 required delegates. After the final set of Republican primaries, Egazarian would turn from his previous position, and endorse Reed for the Presidency before the RNC. Following the primaries, Senator Egazarian would create a brief video series commenting on various issues and his personal life leading up to the election. Egazarian would speak out against the bipartisan 2016 budget bill, claiming it would increase "discretionary and executive spending by $445 Billion dollars each year"